Luggage handle



May 18, 1954 w. FINKELSTEIN LUGGAGE HANDLE Filedbec. 51, 1951 'INVENTOR. Ema/5M1)! Patented May 18, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LUGGAGE HANDLE William Finkelstein, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application December 31, 1951, Serial No. 264,320

2 Claims. (01. ISO-57) My invention relates to a handle particularly adapted for luggage as well as any other bag or apparatus that is to be carried.

l-leretofore, handles have been made wherein a metal brace has been placed upon the bar top analogous to my invention in Patent No. 1,977,626 of Oetorber 23, 1934 and Patent No. 1,977,674 of October 23, 1934.

in the prior art patents it has been found difficuit and expensive to change the covering on the grip portion of the handle when changes are to be made when the handle and bag are to be matched.

With my invention it is.-

(l) Easier to match the rest of the luggage with an analogous piece of leather or fabric in the handle, or

(2) The handle may carry the trademark of the manufaoturer'of the bag, or

(3) it may carry the name of the owner of the bag.

it, therefore, is an object of my invention to provide a handle wherein a name or designation may be inserted within the handle but wherein the name cannot be easily eradicated when it is in position.

Another object of my invention is to provide a luggage handle which is attractive in appearance.

Another object of my invention is to provide a luggage handle which is molded of plastic such as a methacrylic acid resin.

Other objects of my invention are to provide an improved device of the character described, that is and economically produced, which is sturdy in construction, and which is highly effective in use.

With he above and related objects in view, my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more i'ully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. i is a perspective view of a handle embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the luggage handle shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the luggage handle embodying my invention.

Fig. i is the plastic grip portion of the handle itself.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a configuration of the side matching members which are adapted to be inserted inside of the handle.

Fig. 7 is a side view of a modification of the grip portion of my invention.

Fig. 8 is an end view of the modification of the grip portion of the handle which is illustrated in Fig. 7.

Referring now in detail to the drawing wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts, I show two posts, each of which is designated generally as A, which go through the portion of the luggage and are riveted in place by virtue of the stem it having its end peened over. The posts A are joined by a U-shaped carrying member or bar, generally designated as B. The body portion l2 of the post A has a pivot 14 therein which enables an arm it of the U-shaped metal or brass bar B to be pivotally attached to the body portion of the post.

An arm 20 of the U-shaped member B is parallel to the first mentioned arm l6 and each of the arms 16 and 20 forms a part of the horizontally extending portion l8. The member B is of unitary construction and is of flat sheet brass stock or other analogous material whereby the luggage may be carried. A grip portion, generally designated as C, has a bottom bar 26 joining two vertically extending walls 22 and 24. It should be noticed that the walls 22 and 24 are substantially parallel to one another and are transparent since the bar grip C is made of a transparent material. The top or horizontally extending portion 18 of the U-shaped carrying member B fits within the walls 22 and 24. There are two vertical projections 28 and 30 on the bottom bar upon which the central portion It of the member B rests. It is to be noted that the projections 28 and 30 are spaced from the walls 22 and 24 a distance so that spaces 32 and 34 are created between the projections 28, 30 and the walls 22, 24 respectively.

Within the space 32 and the space 34 is a matching member D made of matching fabric or a complementary fabric substance with a trade name or the owners name imprinted thereon. This matching member D serves as an ornament and a decoration, or as an identifying member. The matching member D comprises a U-shaped strip of fabric having spaced sides 22A, 28A. A bottom 26A which covers the bottom 26, joins the lower portion of the sides 22A, MA. A plurality of holes 28A, 30A slip over the projections 28 and 39 so that the projections prevent the matching member from slipping longitudinally. The bottom portion 25 of the grip C is of a sufiicient thickness so that the grip will not be compressed or shattered when it is tightly held. A pair of holding screws 40 pass through the central horizontal portion [8 of the U-shaped carrying member and are screwed to the projections 28 and 30, in the grip member C. It is to be noted that the upper portion [8 rests upon the surface of the members 28 and 39, but it rests flush with the upper edges of the walls 22 and 24 so that the edge 38 of the side arm 24 comes flush with the upper edge of the handle.

In Figs. 7 and 8 I show a modification of my invention wherein the casing is generally designated at C! and it has a grip portion 42 which is adapted to cause the fingers to be spaced apart in an undulating manner. The undulated handle framework Cl also ha projections 28B and 30B exetnding from the bottom of the framework in an upwardly direction.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

I claim:

1. A handle for baggage or luggage comprising a U-shaped member made of fiat sheet metal, means to connect each end of said U-shaped member to a piece of luggage, a transparent plastic hand grip member having side spaced walls securely attached together, a plurality of projections securely attached to said grip member and located between said spaced walls and spaced from said walls and terminating short of the upper edge of said side arms, the center of said U-shaped metal member being aligned with the upper edge of each of said spaced walls by said projections, a luggage matching strip located between said projections and each wall of said transparent plastic hand grip member, and means to hold said U-shaped member to said projections.

2. A handle for baggage or luggage comprising a U-shaped member made of fiat sheet metal, means to connect each end of said U-shaped member to a piece of luggage, a transparent plastic hand grip member having side spaced walls and a bottom portion joining the lowermost portion of each of said spaced walls, a plurality of spaced projections between said side spaced walls and joining said bottom portion, said projections being spaced from the walls and terminating short of the upper edge of said side spaced walls, the center of said metal member aligned with the upper edges of said spaced walls by said spaced projections, and said center of said metal member resting upon the upper edges of said projections, a luggage matching strip between each wall of said transparent plastic hand grip member and said spaced projections, and means to hold said U-shaped member to said projections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 234,227 Booth Nov. 9, 1880 2,142,137 Leary Jan. 3, 1939 2,176,698 Albrecht Oct. 17, 1939 2,294,197 Moore et a1. Aug. 25, 1942 2,311,664 Johnson Feb, 23, 1943 2,483,307 Wheary Sept. 27, 1949 2,624,431 Caro Jan. 6, 1953 

